Box Score

	vs.
3		2

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WINONA, Minn. — The search is over — finally.

Heading into Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Saint John's, the Saint Mary's University hockey team — winless in their first five games of the season — was in dire need of a power boost.

Eight of the last 13 goals allowed by SMU had been powerplay goals, while the Cardinals' powerplay was a paltry 1 for its last 14 — with that goal coming off the stick of Jesse Polk (Hastings, Minn.) during Friday's 4-2 loss to the Johnnies.

In other words, the Cardinals' special teams were anything but special.

Until Saturday afternoon.

The Cardinals scored three powerplay goals and goalie Dan Smith (Rochester, Minn.) made 41 saves to lead SMU to a 3-2 MIAC victory, snapping this year's 0-4-1 start — and giving them their first win since a 5-4 overtime victory over Hamline on Jan. 26, 2007 — a span of 12 games.

"What a great college hockey game," said SMU coach Don Olson. "You could not have asked for much more. Our guys played their hearts out — they finally put it all together for 60 minutes."

The Cardinals took advantage of a 5-on-3  powerplay to get on the board first as #Morgan Shepherd (Brainerd, Minn.) netted his first goal of the year, beating SJU goalie Vince Wheeler with a wrist\ shot from point-blank range.

SMU maintained that one-goal lead until the final seconds of the opener period, as SJU got the equalizer on a goal by Joel Stacklie, who also had a hand in three of the Johnnies' four goals  in Friday's 4-2 win, getting a goal and two assists.

The Johnnies grabbed their first lead of the game early in the second period, as Clayton Rehm scored a short-handed goal less than two minutes into the period. The Cardinals, however, took advantage of six SJU penalties in the second stanza, getting powerplay goals from Matt Staehely (Shorewood, Ill.) and Mike Glaesmer (Traverse City, Mich.) to give SMU a 3-2 edge heading into the game's final 20 minutes.

And Smith made that lead stand up, stopping all 13 SJU third-period shots to preserve the win.

"I said (Friday night) that we were close, we just needed to get over the hump," said Olson. "We may not be over with this win, but we are getting closer."